Will Front Mission Ever Return To Its Strategy RPG Roots?

Before we get to that point I asked Koichi Sakamoto, who has been working with the Front Mission series, why Square Enix turned their mecha strategy RPG series into a shooter.

“Looking globally, we thought about what franchise could have worldwide appeal. Shooters are popular and Front Mission’s theme of war was suitable for a shooter, so we thought it was a perfect fit,” Sakamoto replied. Mecha shooting games, while uncommon in North America, are quite popular in Japan. Namco Bandai’s portable Gundam vs. Gundam games are usually hot sellers.

Front Mission Evolved is a new direction for the series, but this isn’t Front Mission 6 or anything like that. This game is more like a branch off the Front Mission tree like Front Mission Gun Hazard.

“We purposely didn’t number this game,” Shinji Hashimoto, Producer, explained. “We are aware there are plenty of Front Mission fans out there that like simulation games. There is definitely a possibility that the series will return to a tactical game in the future. We wanted to leave that open ended. It all depends on how consumers react to this title [Front Mission Evolved].

Later, Hashimoto mentioned if Front Mission Evolved sold well enough there could be Front Mission Evolved 2.

If I were to take a guess, I’d say they’ll be back to strategy games pretty quick. I have serious doubts that this game will be a big seller. It has a terrible release date and many Front Mission fans are pretty upset about the game being a shooter.

I agree with you. I don’t like this “armored core clone” D: I prefer the strategy ones.

http://www.tbstactics.com mjemirzian

They’ll never spend the millions of dollars required to create a next gen turn based tactical SRPG. Maybe something on the DS again, but their DS efforts have been poor so far.

godmars

Nice to know that there *might* be a FM6, but it would be better to hear it.

As a FM fan, I’d rather see Gun Hazard on PSN/XBL than Evolved.

lostinblue

They just don’t get it from the moment they greenlighted this one with the developer they did. Wanting to do a mecha action game using an existing property is fine, not giving it the apropriate push and developer is not.

Then again at least they didn’t number it, I suspect it’s a mix from what he said and a mix of “we’re not so certain of this title being regarded in the future as any good so let’s be cautious”

Hraesvelgr

This is Square Enix we’re talking about here, if this game fails, they will kill the series off outright. Or perhaps they’ll do it like the Mana series and release four terrible games in a row before giving it the axe. Either way, Front Mission is probably already dead.

Guest

Oh what….I just thought this was an FPS to begin with…..DAMMIT, I WAS TROLLED! SCREW YOU SQUARE ENIX!

Hraesvelgr

What?

Electrium

I might give it a chance depending on how sympathetic I feel around release. As much as I love Front Mission I have to admit that unless Double Helix does an amazing job (they won’t), this game is destined to fail.

animaster

And here I was hoping for a strategy/simulation sequel of Front Mission … FM:Evolved really disappoints me. But I’m glad that Evolved is not counted as primary FM.

http://twitter.com/leehg5925 Terry Lee

TL;DR

SquareEnix: SCREW THE FANS, WE JUST WANT MOAR MONEYZ!!1

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1472407455 Charles Lupula

I must admit I never played any of the PS1 ones, but just knowing Double Helix from the atrocity that was Silent Hill: Homecoming, I want nothing to do with this game. That games not only destroyed my enthusiasm for one of my previously favorite series, but it also gave me a developer name that automatically means “avoid” in my head.

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